Optimising your Google mail account (5)

Instant Communication

Chat

As you’re looking around, you’ll probably notice the Chat box in under the links in the left navigation bar.

Chat allows you to talk to your Gmail contacts (those who use Gmail, Google Talk, or even your AIM buddies) in real-time, directly within Gmail.

The status icon to the left of your contacts’ names indicates whether they’re available (green), idle (yellow), busy (red), or offline (grey). You can also add a note, by clicking the Set status here link, which will show under your name in your friends’ Gmail.


To chat with a friend:

1. Click the name of your friend in the Chat section. A window will open in the lower-right corner of the page.
2. Type into the text field.
3. Press Enter to send your message.

Unless you choose to chat off the record, your Chat conversations will be archived and stored in your Gmail Chats label. This way, you can search for content from your chats, or you can browse your previous conversations by clicking the Chats navigation link.

Further reading

That should be enough to get you started. If you have any questions, please feel free to visit our Help Group and ask our community of users, or browse the Help Center for more information.

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